morning lads.ive been having problems with my picking for many years now and cant seem to fix it.every fast solo i play starts with down up down up down upstrokes,but i can seem to play really fast.the first thing i do when i turn my amp on is practice scale patterns but can only play so fast i cant seem to speed it up.when i try to play faster it just feels uncomfortable and sounds messy.i thought all fast runs were down up down up ect ect.cheers lads
I have a great pattern that will might help you with your problem
Try picking 2 notes on the A string, then 3 on the D using alternate picking, repeat.. many times.
This will help to programme your hand to alternate pick alot better.
I find this pattern helps me to get over the trickiest parts of alternate picking.
John Petrucci has some cool ideas on gaining speed that were posted on You Tube I found his ideas very helpful.It was to mainly to get something down fairly clean at half speed then make a big speed jump up like 2x speed and then just try to clean it up.So atleast you would get used to playing at speed instead of just trying to nail it perfect for weeks and never getting up to speed. It has some merit I think Steve Vai had the same idea as well. He spent some time getting supper fast playing sloppy when he began but then eventually cleaned it up and was eventually super fast and super clean. Try a bunch of stuff it cant hurt if you are stuck in a rut.You could also use sweep picking,economy picking and legato in your playing that would certainly speed you up when you mastered them.
A pretty small bit of advice, but if you start spazzing out with all the frustration of practice, just simply put the guitar down and do something that does not involve in you playing or thinking about music. Listening to it is fine, but just don't 'analyze' the crap out of it. Even if you don't have anything else to do, don't play guitar when your stressed out at it.
If it's a specific example or pattern your working on that your getting frustrated at, either do something completely different or something easier to play for a while.
Remember that petrucci type speed takes many years to develop, you can't 'get it' in 10 practice sessions in a week and a half. Those sessions will obviously help, but it's a gradual process were you don't notice the results unless you a) are anal about keeping track of everything and write speed and stuff like that down, or, the most 'natural' way where b) you slowly just notice small improvements in your playing and especially improvising.
(I just noticed you wrote 'many years' down, but I still think it still mostly applies)
+100000 ... And when you have practiced for about 2 hours and still can't do it faster, try to practice something different (legato, sweep picking), or take a break. Then go back to the down-up-down-up thing. One thing that is really helping me to become faster is John Petrucci's Rock Discipline DVD. I highly recommend it.
+10000000 on the metronome. What I try to do is first learn the passage and get my hand comfortable playing it slowly. Once I've got it in my head and hands, I start to build the speed. I try to jump up at intervals of 5-10 bpm. One helpful thing I've found is to get it to where I play it perfectly 3 times in a row and then jump up 10 bpm to see if I can do it. If I really struggle, I immediately drop back down to where I was originally and play it 3 more times perfectly then up it 5 bpm and see if I can do that. If I jump up 10 bpm and find myself fairly able but still struggling, I'll drop it down only 5 bpm. Always get it to where you can play it a couple times perfectly before making the jump in speed.
It's also important that you not only play the part correctly, but that you're using correct technique. I don't think you have to play a particular way, but pay attention to where you have your thumb, are you anchoring, what fingerings are you using and is there a simpler way to work the passage, what angle is your pick in relation to the strings, etc. There are established techniques that help, but there's also what works for you and I think there's some room for balance in there.
I'm not the greatest alternate picker in the world, preferring a more economy style like Gambale, but I can offer some tips.
Something I find quite useful for speeding up my AltPicking is working on speeding up my down strokes on their own and doing the same for the up stroke.
Using a metronome and just chugging out on the low E or doing scales, all downs and all ups.
I find this helps teach me to relax when it gets faster, because I don't know about you, but when I try to do fast down strokes my arm wants to get really stiff. Resist the stiffness LOL.
You need to figure out where you are struggling - not just speed necessarily - perhaps there is a string change that is slowing you down - I find the 'outside' string changes hard, where you for example play an up on one string, then need a down on the next string closer to the floor.
Finding little snags in the things you practice is crucial for improving your technique, so analyse what you are doing, otherwise you just get better at playing worse.
Try starting your exercises with down and up, not always down - this will make all the picks the other way round and really challenge you, but also keeps you prepared incase you accidently start the wrong way!
Sorry for the crap explanations - I'm super tired.
cheers lads all cracking ideas and ways to improve my picking.what im using for picking speed at the moment is that quick run at the end of here i go again solo (whitesnake) dan huff aranged that peice,its very very fast,but im 2-3 notes behind due to my picking problems.off the top of my head id say crazy train is the fastest solo i can play.for someone who been playing 15 years im not as good as i should be,im no slouch but should be better
Forget about how good you should be, focus on how good you could be.
One of the most exciting and rewarding thing about playing an instrument is that there is constant room for improvement.
I'd also recommend recording yourself playing exercises - you'd be amazed at how much you improve week on week when you have the perspective of actually listening to yourself - it's highly motivating too.
Every idea that's been offered to you is completely valid. I especially agree with sickbean, record your playing. My suggestion to you is to work your ass off with the metronome, and drill your right hand as much as you can. However, hard work doesn't have the type of instant gratification that ripping up a solo does, so in the meantime, I'd recommend working on your legato technique. I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy and my picking is not where it belongs, however, a good legato technique can cover alot of the holes that your shortcomings in alternate picking present.
hi rob!!! let me help you a little bit too.
Im playing guitar over 7 years, started doing that thing of Up and Downs picks.
Theres some times that we cannot go beyond our style, so then its where the fast solos that we like to play doesnt show off.
But, once a time ago, I found a little tiny book composed by Frank Gambale, and then I realize that this amazing JazzFusion Man dont always use Up & down. Most times He uses Up,Up,Down,Down Up,Down,Down,Up. Its really amazing. You gain extra speed and real good sound.
Chek it out some clinics of him, besides, he is the best in jazz fusion for me
This is what i do:
start on b and do 2 notes alt picking then move to high e and do 3 notes ap and finish with 1 note on the b string again, repeat this all the way up an down the neck
Example: starting on b 2-3,e1-2-3,b3
now g 2-3,b1-2-3,g3
hope this helps,
-Steven
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